Friday, April 26, 2013

I apologize for the lack of substantial posts the past couple weeks-- last week I had a severe case of acid reflux that I thought permanently damaged my vocal chords (my voice is still hoarse). And this week I came down with bronchitis. Just my luck. So in between hacking up vital organs, here are some things I found around the internet:

I watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close finally and I have to say, it was just okay. The best part about it was the renter's notes. For a book that was so well written in my opinion, I just don't think the movie did it justice. It lacked not just events from the book, but the whole underlying humor that the book had. How do you guys think the movie rated compared to the book?

But speaking of books, I read Kelly Oxford's Everything Is Perfect When You're a Liar this week which is a collection of humorous essays, and it did not disappoint. I found myself laughing out loud more than once. Have any of you read it?

So those are just a few things from around the web this week. I think I'm going to go take some cough syrup and drink 50 more Capri Suns now. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

This has always been one of my favorite quotes. It reminds, or even reassures us, that no matter how much we plan out our lives, it rarely ever goes how we think it will. But perhaps that's a blessing. Maybe fate knew where we needed to be even if we didn't. Haven't we all had those moments where we stop and evaluate everything that's happened to us and suddenly realize, if one particular event didn't happen then something else would have never of happened and that perhaps there was a reason for it happening the way it did even if it didn't make sense at the time? Those are the best moments, right? When in the midst of life feeling like a huge, confusing puzzle, we can find the way some of the pieces fit together and for a second life actually makes sense.

With all this warm weather, I can't wait to start making my own frozen yogurt.

This week I re-read The Great Gatsby (I read it in high school but who actually read anything from high school? Probably everyone but me.) just in time for the movie coming out next month. Are you guys excited to see it? I have mixed feelings just based off of the trailer, but I think it will be interesting to watch, regardless. What do you guys think?

When I was growing up and I used to get really upset about something, I would automatically get angry and start pouting. After awhile I would watch my family all talk and laugh and joke around, and as much as I wanted to laugh and joke with them, I couldn't. I had to keep up this image that I was really angry about something, even though my natural reaction to watching my family having a good time was to join them and also have a good time. Over the years I think people become increasingly cynical about the world around them and their lives in particular, especially when they compare themselves to people who they think are happier than them, when all we really want is to join those people and be happy too. Yet we don't think we'll be happy unless we have this or do that. All we're doing is stunting the potential of our happiness sitting in the corner and pouting while everyone else is having fun. The truth is, we have the ability to be happy right here and now regardless of what we have or don't have. Sometimes all I seem to do is complain and gripe about what I don't have and what I'm not doing, but when I start to actually acknowledge the good things going on in my life and around me, I realize that there is so much to celebrate and be happy about. Small things that I take for granted, like not being allergic to nuts or big things like having a home and a job. Sometimes all it takes to change your life is to change your perspective.

Happier seems like such a great revolution in social media. Share things that make you happy and you'll be happier. Happiness is contagious and dwelling on positive things help to minimize the bad things. You can even set up reminders to send yourself throughout the day to stop and focus on something good that happened that day, because sometimes in this age of multi-tasking and go-go-go and always being on an electronic, it's nice to be able to have that electronic send us a reminder to stop for a minute and just be happy.